Monday, October 4, 2010

Dominating the Airwaves

As many of you may know from the previous post, I was featured on WDEL's lovely Thirsty Thursday segment of The Rick Jensen Show. Gina, a good friend from college, has made herself a staple at WDEL 1150 in Wilmington, DE. About a month and a half ago, she visited our apartment and tried some of my nut brown ale, probably my best beer to date.

I was buzzed into the studio and met up with Gene, Gina's fiance, who also works at the station. We hung out at his desk and chatted for a while as Gina finished up an interview. I told him that there was an irrational part of my brain that thought I had to use hushed tones in a radio station. Like there were microphones everywhere or something. He told me that he understood...sort of.

We were almost ready to go. Rick came out and introduced himself. As everyone was setting up, he asked me a couple of questions about where I was from, the beer I liked, stuff like that. We all shuffled into the studio, which forms kind of a semi-circle around the sound board, and took our places at the microphones. I got my beer out and was ready to go.

I brought the same nut brown ale that I mentioned earlier in the blog and distributed it amongst the panel, first in tiny glasses and then when those ran out, styrofoam cups. I'll spare you the details of the show itself and encourage you to listen to the program. Rick was a real pro, by the way. He came off like a guy who feels at home in this kind of setting. The commercial breaks had the same tone as the rest of the show--the panel informally chatting about this and that. (Rick Jensen likes my chucks, by the way.) In the end, my beer got a rating of 5 out of 6 and I got a little round of applause for my trouble. You can't beat that. After the show I packed up my stuff and had to clear out pretty quickly to make room for the next show--a news program of some sort.

When we were done, I was a nerd and asked for a picture with everyone there. I'm just happy that everyone accepted and joined in on my nerd-dom. Gina would be in it but she's the one taking it.

The show was helpful in focusing my attention on brewing again. I've been unable to because my apartment reaches kiln-like temperatures during the summer months, but considering that yesterday was practically jacket weather, I think all systems are go. This coming weekend, I plan to make a stop at the homebrew shop to weigh my options--perhaps something I haven't tried before.

New frontiers are in view. A couple weeks ago, I took a class on all-grain brewing at the Brooklyn Kitchen that got me pretty excited. I like the idea of using as few processed ingredients as possible and making beer from scratch...or at least as from scratch as I can reasonably get. It's going to take some new equipment though, and new equipment is going to mean a monetary investment. Someday though. For now though, extract brewing will have to do. I know Heather is excited that the apartment will not be completely overrun with a ten gallon stockpot and a cooler that's been converted into a mash/lauter tun...yet.